Environmental news from California and beyond

California close to waiver to regulate car emissions

The long battle between California and the federal government over whether the state can adopt its own standards to control greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles appears to be drawing to an end.

President Obama had signaled in his campaign that he supported the state's right to set its own rules, which more than 15 states plan to follow.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency set in motion a review which seems likely to grant the state's waiver to the Clean Air Act. The crackdown on automobile emissions is a key component of California's plan to slash its carbon footprint over the next 12 years by 15%. See our colleague Jim Tankersley's post on the Washington blog the Swamp.